Final Heat surge scorches Celtics

MIAMI  For LeBron James, Game 5 last season against Boston was horrific.

A year later, Game 5 was humbling.

And he and the Miami Heat are halfway to an NBA championship, having finally found a way to vanquish the Celtics.

Dwyane Wade scored 34 points, James added 33—including the game’s last 10 in a spectacular closing flourish, part of Miami’s 16-0 run over the final 4:15—and the Heat beat the Celtics 97-87 on Wednesday night to win their Eastern Conference semifinal series in five games.

When it was over, James knelt on the court, oblivious to the photographers who quickly surrounded him in Miami’s celebration.

“Everything went through my mind at that point,” James said. “Finally getting over this hump against this team. Everything I went through this summer, with ‘The Decision’ and deciding to come down here to be a part of this team … because I knew how important team is to this sport … and all the backlash I got from it.

“I’d be up here for two hours if I tell you exactly everything that went through my head. Very emotional at that point, you know, and happy we got through it as a team.”

That they did—as a team.

James Jones hit a 3-pointer that kickstarted the final push, and Chris Bosh finished with 14 points—none of them more important than the two coming when he blew past Kevin Garnett for a game-tying dunk with 2:57 left.

Wade carried Miami early, then James finished the job. The 10-0 run to close the game put some long-simmering Celtics demons to rest.

-- Thunder 99, Grizzlies 72—Kevin Durant scored 19 points, reserve Daequan Cook added 18 and the Oklahoma City Thunder followed their triple-overtime triumph with a 99-72 blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night to take their first series lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Thunder lead 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday night in Memphis. They got there with ease considering what happened two nights earlier.

Marc Gasol had 16 points to lead Memphis, which matched its lowest point total from the regular season and played like it was still drained from an emotional loss in their own building that knocked them out of control in the series.

The Grizzlies shot a season-worst 36 percent and were far enough behind that Durant and fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook didn’t even have to play in the fourth quarter.

By the end, Durant was wearing one of the same white Thunder T-shirts as the sellout crowd and was standing on the sidelines directing the lineup of reserves that got to play in garbage time.

“We played great defense. Everyone was in tune, locked in,” Durant said. “It was a group effort.”

After a classic Game 4, when the Thunder had chances to win at the end of regulation and each of the first two overtimes, coach Scott Brooks said it was like “three wins in one.”

Rajon Rondo finished with six points in 31 minutes for Boston, playing with what appeared to be a slimmer brace over the still-painful left elbow that he dislocated during Game 3.

“I know we gave a lot in Game 3,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “And I don’t know if we could ever get that effort back.”

The Celtics got one measure of a victory Wednesday night: Ending months of speculation, Rivers said he will likely return to coach next season.

“I’m a Celtic,” Rivers said. “And I love our guys. I want to win again here. I’m competitive as hell, I have a competitive group. So we’ll see. That’s where I’m at today. Tomorrow I may change my mind.”

Exactly one year earlier, James was maligned in Cleveland when the Cavaliers were embarrassed by the Celtics, 120-88 in Game 5 of that East semifinal series. Boston won in six games, the finale of that matchup being James’ last game with the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2003.

He wound up in Miami, alongside Wade and Bosh, aiming to chase a title.

Eight wins down, eight wins to go.

Next up for the Heat is the East finals against either Chicago or Atlanta, a series that may begin as early as Sunday. Chicago leads 3-2 with Game 6 on Thursday.

“When you’re playing this game, and you have another guy over there doing the things and as capable as LeBron, not only am I a fan on the court, but it makes the game easier,” Wade said. “Obviously.”

Obviously.

James put Miami up for good with a 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining, then added a game-sealing—more aptly, a series-sealing—3 with 40.4 seconds left, then turned and posed for some fans who screamed in delight.

“They make you fight for everything,” James said. “You can never take the foot off the gas. You can never take a second off against that team.”